Existing techniques for measuring two dimensional velocity fields, such as Particle Image Velocimetry (PIV), require expensive and specialized equipment such as lasers, advanced optics and particle seeding of flows. The use of lasers in PIV requires specialized safety equipment and procedures, and the advanced optics requires precision alignments that add to the expenses of using the technique and hinders its use in field applications. The expenses result in large costs, significant setup time for each experiment and require a dedicated facility to operate. There are faster and cheaper techniques for measuring velocities such as pitot probes or hot wire anemometers, however, they only provide point measurements. If these instruments are used to obtain two dimensional flows they become prohibitively expensive and time consuming and have limited spatial resolution. Laser Doppler Velocimetry (LDV) is another technique that can provide high spatial resolution but it is also a point measurement technique and requires many of the same expensive equipment costs as PIV and is inadequate and extremely time consuming for obtaining two dimensional flows.
The foregoing examples of the related art and limitations related therewith are intended to be illustrative and not exclusive. Other limitations of the related art will become apparent to those of skill in the art upon a reading of the specification and a study of the drawings.